By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — The teachers union, which has been working without a contract for 18 months, said last week that it recently rejected a fact-finder’s proposal for resolving the impasse because it omitted retroactive raises for 2011.
The Robbinsville Board of Education voted Nov. 27 to accept state-appointed fact-finder Martin Scheinman’s report that called for no retroactive increase in 2011; phased in raises between June 2012 and June 2013 that average out to 2 percent annually; and a 2.5 percent for the 2013-14 school year. The union’s negotiating team, however, rejected the nonbinding recommendation Dec. 3.
The state Public Employment Relations Commission now must appoint a “super conciliator” who has the power to require the two sides to meet in around-the-clock negotiating sessions to help break the stalemate. PERC had not yet appointed the super conciliator as of Friday, school district officials said.
Mike Johnson, president of the Washington Township Education Association representing 350 Robbinsville teachers, secretaries, support staff, maintenance workers and bus drivers, said Robbinsville “ranks at the bottom or near bottom in all categories relevant to salary” when compared to other Mercer County school districts.
”The WTEA believes that, because of the ranking in the county, it is unfair to ask the association to take a monetary freeze during any year of the contract,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement issued Dec. 12, the first since the union’s leaders rejected the fact-finder’s recommendations.
”We would settle for remaining as the lowest paid teachers in Mercer County at this time; we just don’t want to fall any further behind,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Scheinman’s report said the average Mercer County teacher’s salary in 2010-11 was $69,985 while the average Robbinsville salary was $59,399.
”Robbinsville’s comparatively low salaries also extend to other categories of employees,” Mr. Scheinman wrote, and he cited as examples the school secretaries (whose average salary of $38,504 is the lowest in the county) and paraprofessionals (whose average salary of $22,341 ranks ninth of 11 districts in the county).
One exception, however, is district bus drivers whose mean hourly wage is $27 an hour, making them the highest paid in Mercer County, according to the report.
The fact-finder said that while the bus drivers’ wages are relevant, that was outweighed by the fact teachers and other employees in the WTEA constitute the vast majority of the Robbinsville school district’s workforce.
”In addition, neither the board nor the (WTEA) proposed different raises for different categories (of employees), and a review of recent settlements demonstrate wage increases for teaching and nonteaching staff typically follow the same or similar pattern,” Mr. Scheinman wrote.
The school district had sought a three-year contract for all WTEA members that offered no retroactive pay increases for 2011 and 2012 and 1 percent raises for 2013, the report said.
The WTEA had proposed a four-year contract providing a 2.9 percent retroactive increase for 2010-11; 2.75 percent for 2011-12; 2.65 percent for 2012-13; and 2.5 percent for 2014-15, the report said.
The fact-finder said the WTEA’s proposed salary hikes exceeded the state-mandated 2 percent cap on increases in the tax levy. While it is true the cap applies to overall appropriations, not wages specifically, “the record demonstrates percentage increases significantly above the cap percentages would severely restrict the ability of the board to provide for existing and expanding needs,” he wrote.
However, the fact-finder said he has recommended raises exceeding the school board’s offer because “. . . the fact Robbinsville teachers make less on average than their peers supports a higher wage package than would otherwise be the case.”
Mr. Scheinman wrote his recommendations are “consistent with the ability of the district to increase its total tax levy by 2 percent while at the same time leaving the excess funds (the difference between the cost of wages and the total 2 percent tax levy increase) available to maintain and expand programs and services where necessary.”
The WTEA, however, says the fact-finder’s salary proposal is insufficient, particularly the lack of any retroactive increase for the first year of the contract.
The union is “very disappointed,” with the report, Mr. Johnson said, adding the WTEA thought it had presented a sound argument for pay increases in every year of the contract. The fact-finder’s proposal will hamper the district’s ability to retain quality teachers, who will leave for better-paying districts, he said.
”We do not want to be perceived as greedy, but we would like to be appreciated for our quality and professionalism just as those other locals in Mercer County have been,” Mr. Johnson said.
